Dahl Arts Center hosts symposium focusing on improving Native American health

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Health and wellness are important parts of every community and two organizations are working together to highlight the importance of health in Native American communities.

Missouri Breaks Industries Research Inc. and Avera Research Institute partnered to host a Wellness and Research in Indian Country Symposium. The event’s focus was to highlight health issues prevalent in the Native community and Missouri Breaks director Marcia O’Leary says they hope the research they do can make all the difference in improving the lives of others.

“What we hope this research does for us is that it develops standards of care, it develops funding opportunities for our tribal partners, it develops best practices and it grows capacity,” O’Leary said.

As for the researchers and practitioners themselves, helping those typically underserved and underrepresented is key to building stronger communities. One issue they found common in Native communities was heart health.

“Heart disease was a big part of what was affecting people in those days. Much of that came from diabetes. We had a fair amount of diabetes and we were trying to reduce heart disease, all kinds of disease in a community,” Physician Lyle Best said.

“So I’m an enrolled member of Eel Ground First Nation and the burden of heart disease in our community is very similar to a lot of indigenous communities throughout the U.S. So it’s really important to learn how to prevent it and if you have heart disease how to manage it,” researcher Mandy Fretts said.

While heart disease was a main topic of discussion at Tuesday’s symposium, others discussed included Covid-19 and indoor environments, and nutrition tips for people with diabetes.

If you would like to learn more, you can still do so on day two of the symposium on Wednesday starting at 9 a.m. at the Dahl Arts Center.

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